Dowell Garage

[Pete]

And sadly...it still looks arguably better than the Santa Fe Garage after it's "renovation"

At least in that case 1) it was built in the ugly 70's; and 2) there was no design review at that time.

This was just finished.

[LocoAko]

That wall would be perfect for a mural or even a large advertisement like what is common on blank walls in Dallas. Is there any chance the city will ever let something like that happen?

Agree. The more murals the better, IMO.

[skanaly]

(I did this on photoshop) I would like to see some big ad go here, not electronic. Big cities have these all over, big ads like these say "big city"

[skanaly]

Is anyone familiar with the huge poster of LeBron in downtown Cleveland? This is it:

Piggy-backing off my last post, I would like to see us step up with "big" things. Once again, big ads are for big cities. Even though OKC isn't huge, we can act like it.

[Plutonic Panda]

I would love to see big advertisements like this. I would also love to see more clown colors on our skyline and led electronic signs in downtown.

[Just the facts]

Dup

[Just the facts]

I posted this in the new urbanism thread but it really applies to this parking garage.

Andres Duany recently met with the architecture, development, and city leadership community in Charleston and read them the riot act on how they are failing. He needs to come to OKC and do the same thing.

The Week of Duany ? Buildings are cool

Duany concluded that if a developer or architect does not want to follow these rules, then they can build anywhere in the 101 square mile area*outside of the 4 mile historic district. *Or they can......... "go to Charlotte or Atlanta."

[Spartan]

Is anyone familiar with the huge poster of LeBron in downtown Cleveland? This is it:

Piggy-backing off my last post, I would like to see us step up with "big" things. Once again, big ads are for big cities. Even though OKC isn't huge, we can act like it.

That's adorning the Sherwin Williams HQ. Cleve actually has stringent regs against advertisement coverings and bldg wraps, whereas Cbus has very aggressively wrapped nearly every blank wall with an ad bc a local ad firm specializes in that. With Sherwin Williams, they wanted to display their paint and do some branding on their bldg, and the LeBron focus was actually the compromise to allow that. They're doing some more branding-oriented bldg paint-wraps that highlight the new energy in Cleve, and they all have very tiny little Sherwin Williams "paint the world" logos.

[PhiAlpha]

On a related note... I parked here today.

[Plutonic Panda]

On a related note... I parked here today.

how did it make you feel?

[Mississippi Blues]

On a related note... I parked here today.

My condolences.

[Pete]

In case you've ever wondered what this place looks like on the inside:

[Urbanized]

Fancy!

[5alive]

I have to learn some new adjectives to describe this third world structure!

[Teo9969]

wow

[bchris02]

Wow, what an absolutely magnificent piece of architecture.

[shawnw]

World Class baby. Take that Dallas.

[hoya]

The good news is, nobody is gonna give a damn when it gets torn down and replaced by another tower.

[jccouger]

Does anybody know if I'd be allowed to park my Dodge Durango in here or do they only allow foreign sports cars and luxury autos in this garage?

[shawnw]

Which part of "world class" did you not understand?

:-P

[Anonymous.]

This garage has been a hot topic lately for the DDRC. Dowell apparently has a buyer of the garage and the new buyer plans to develop it into residential.

There is title issues with the transaction because a portion of the garage [as currently built] encroaches the public sidewalk. The seller is trying to get the encroached sidewalk space (about 16") forfeited to become part of property itself.

I thought this information was thread bump-worthy since it is an interesting dilemma and the claim from Dowell that the buyer wants to make this residential.

[SagerMichael]

Does “make residential” mean bulldoze the property and build a new residential? I’m having a hard time picturing converting a garage without a full tear down

[Pete]

^

That's very strange because Dowell is famous for never selling anything.

He's owned the old Midland Center for decades. Talk about a building ripe for residential.

And that ugly parking garage is connected to the Underground and was meant to provide parking for Midland Center. Maybe the buyer wants Midland plus the garage? Let's pray that is the case.

[Anonymous.]

^

That's very strange because Dowell is famous for never selling anything.

He's owned the old Midland Center for decades. Talk about a building ripe for residential.

And that ugly parking garage is connected to the Underground and was meant to provide parking for Midland Center. Maybe the buyer wants Midland plus the garage? Let's pray that is the case.

It is this I believe. Dowell said he is retiring and is selling this in its entirety.

[warreng88]

Does “make residential” mean bulldoze the property and build a new residential? I’m having a hard time picturing converting a garage without a full tear down

I would think it would have to be. I would assume there are ways to convert it to residential, but probably the most cost effective solution is tear it down and start from scratch. It's not like it is a historic building or anything.